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The Department of Government Efficiency says it's saved taxpayers $8.5 billion so

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far — but a BBC watchdog says it's wildly overstating the real figure, claiming $110

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billion in savings that never materialized

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DOGE isn't just a spreadsheet; Reuters describes it as "the secretive unit operating

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in the public eye" That secrecy lets it announce contract cuts worth billions while

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the same agency's own internal audits question whether those cuts reflect real

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savings or just reshuffled spending Critics argue the unit's opacity makes it hard

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to verify any fiscal impact, turning a promised efficiency drive into a black-box of

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numbers

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Beyond DOGE, the administration is taking actual equity stakes in private firms.

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E&E News reports the Department of Defense took a 10 percent equity stake in Trilogy

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Metals, the Department of Energy took a 5 percent stake in Lithium Americas, and the

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DOD became the biggest stakeholder in MP Materials CNBC tallies the full portfolio:

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MP Materials 15 percent, Intel 10 percent, Trilogy Metals 10 percent, Lithium

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Americas 5 percent, Korea Zinc 10 percent

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The equity-stake theme has a precedent.

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After the 2008 crisis, TARP let the Treasury take ownership stakes in banks Unlike

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TARP, which was later unwound, today's stakes are being framed as permanent tools of

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industrial policy

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While these equity moves dominate headlines, the underlying fiscal picture stays

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contested.

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The Congressional Budget Office makes its raw data publicly available on GitHub

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(repo listed).

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A companion repository tracks debt-and-welfare metrics (repo listed).

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Those repositories let analysts verify outlays, deficits, and debt-to-GDP ratios

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without relying on opaque summaries

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Conservatives push back on the "Republican socialism" label.

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Reason argues the administration has not made a convincing case for buying stakes in

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these companies National Review warns that once the government takes a financial

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interest in a company, the interventionism never ends

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If you want to see where the money really goes, check the CBO's GitHub repositories

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yourself (repo listed) — and follow the equity-stake announcements tied to the new

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Strategic Capital Fund.

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Stay skeptical, stay sourced, and keep demanding the receipts